Bentley's new Bentayga V8 was revealed this week and will start at prices of £136,200

Bentley

This week in Austria, Bentley launched its new V8 iteration of its luxury Bentayga SUV. The first Bentayga came off the production line back in 2015, and the company has produced more than 10,000 so far.

Considering it takes more than 130 hours to produce each SUV (some 10 times more than an average production car) and each vehicle has 100 electronic control units (ECUs) to command and diagnose various systems, five cameras, 15 ultrasonic sensors, both short- and long-range radar as well as night-vision capability, it is surprising that this new twin-turbocharged, 542bhp V8 petrol model with a 0-60 mph of 4.4 seconds and top speed of 180mph is not able to go beyond level 2 autonomy.

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At level 2, steering and speed of the vehicle are controlled by "one or more driver assistance systems" but a human controls the other elements of driving. However, the Bentayga's Active Lane Assist feature that controls steering for you only switches on for up to 15 seconds before a human must retake control of the car. Hardly what the average driver would consider to be autonomous.

This lack of autonomy is contrasted by its sister company in the Volkswagen Group, Audi, already having a level 3-capable autonomous vehicle on sale, the new A8, This car is able to monitor the driving environment around it and, crucially (when the system is fully turned on), make driving decisions for itself.

In other words, Bentley theoretically has complete access to the developed and tested technology for the current pinnacle of capability for self-driving cars but has yet to implement it.

Bentley is looking at possibly extending the Active Lane Assist above 15 seconds on its vehicles for a degree of autonomous motorway driving

Bentley

Perhaps anticipating questions on this, at the V8 briefing, Peter Guest, product line director for Bentayga, stated that the “car has far more autonomous capability than we have switched on at the moment”.

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Richard Haycox, head of chassis mechatronics at Bentley, confirmed to WIRED that, regarding the Bentayga, the company's "aim is always to increase the level of autonomy of the car" and to do this via a firmware update.

"Currently we choose to switch the Active Lane Assist off after 15 seconds. Now we don't have to do that," Haycox says. "A Tesla on autopilot will steer you around many, many corners, but we choose to restrict the Bentayga to 15 seconds. However, if we choose to expand that time then it would be more of an automated drive. And this would only be a software change."

The Bentayga V8 not only has a new engine but is the first to sport the new "Black Pack" bodywork

Bentley

That seems like a great addition to the capability of the SUV, so why not simply upscale the time drivers can use the Active Lane Assist?

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"Active Lane Assist is not a perfect system," Haycox admits. "It behaves differently with different levels of road camber. For example, in Florida there is extreme camber because there is extreme weather, so they can run water off the road. We have to calibrate the system differently to cope with this and make sure it works in all markets."

So in what situations would Bentley actually consider increasing the time this system could remain operational? "I would say on motorways and autobahns where you don't have a lot of steering input. I don't see why you cannot do that," says Haycox. Is Bentley looking into doing this? "We are always exploring these options, yes."

It is impossible to elevate the Bentayga or other existing Bentley models, including the new Continental GT, to an increased level of autonomy, according to Haycox. "To go level 3 you need a driver-facing camera," he says. "I would say we will have a level 3 car in the market within two to three years."

As Audi has already reached this level, why not have Bentley leapfrog this stage of self-driving ability and go straight to the "full autonomy" of level 4?

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"Level 4 brings in additional sensors," says Haycox. "Therefore this will impact on the style of the car and electrical architecture – and that's a big change. We'd only do this with a new model, certainly not with a facelift or powertrain change - only with a new model."

So, after the new GT, there is a likelihood the next Bentley will have level 4 autonomy? "That's the target, yes," Haycox says. "I can't be more specific, but I would like it to be level 4. These are becoming hygiene features in our sector."

The Bentley Bentayga V8 is on sale now from £136,200 with deliveries starting in the second quarter of this year